Unease grips Bangladesh as civil servants protest interim govt policies

A sense of unease intensified in Bangladesh overnight amid protests in the civil administration and the business sector over policies of the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus.

- PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

The mass circulation Prothom Alo newspaper carried a report headlined "protests in the secretariat, NBR turned dysfunctional, Nagar Bhan under lock and key" referring to an ongoing demonstration of government employees against a proposed law involving government employees service, protests of officials of national revenue board and the employees of Dhaka South City Corporation.

A prominent business community leader, Showkat Aziz Russell, meanwhile, said businessmen in the country were being killed just like the intellectuals in the 1971 Liberation War. He warned of a famine-like situation as more people become jobless.

"We don't know how we will pay bonuses and salaries to workers ahead of Eid-ul-Adha," said Russell, who is the president of Bangladesh Textiles Mills Association, at a joint press conference of business chambers.